THE CRIPPLING SPIRIT

 

For eighteen years this woman in today’s Gospel came to church bent over crippled. She had been faithful, loved the Lord, a “daughter of Abraham.”  

Eighteen years is a long time. Everybody had accepted her condition. I suppose in a way, she had learned to live with it. I’m sure she wished everyday that she could stand straight, but had realized that nothing could be done.

But this was no ordinary crippling. She had been crippled “by a spirit.”  

 Spirits cannot go where they are not invited. Somewhere along the line, we are confronted with decision about an attitude, or a principle of faith that we just cannot accept. God usually is trying to teach us something about living our lives for Him that will improve our servanthood, and draw us closer to Him. However, what happens is we have a preset line of thought about this particular subject, and we just cannot give it up. Maybe it is something we have been taught all our lives, and we have taken it for the gospel truth, but the problem is that it does not square with scripture, and we just cannot adjust to the new light that God is showing us.

On the other hand, maybe it is a preconceived set of notions about life, or the church, or view of us that we cherish, but has no basis in the truth. God is trying to take us to a new plan of living, but we refuse to go.

So we stay where we are, trying to stop change and live on a plan of unreality that leaves us open to “spirits.” And, these “spirits can cripple us. They limit our effectiveness. This daughter of Abraham continued to love the Lord, but by allowing this spirit to coexist with her, she limited her ability to function in life, and limit her effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.

Here are some of the spirits that can cripple us.

A LEGALISTIC SPIRIT

Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And, the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matt. 22:37-40)

Nevertheless, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)

The basis of our Christian experience is love. Out of love comes the commandments. But, the tendency, as time passes, we grow cold in our relationship to God. Love fades, but the commandments remain. Every action of ourselves and others is not interpreted in the light of love, but in the light of the law. And that is exactly what Jesus preached against.

 AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT

How many times have we heard the phrase, “That person just makes me sick!” Our unwillingness to forgive someone who has hurt us can actually make us sick!

I have had people tell me, “When I get around so and so I get a headache!” That is a spirit that can really cripple us! Studies have shown that people who carry grudges (admitted or not) have significantly reduced life spans and greater incidences of disease.

The Scripture tells us that this woman was physically bent over. Human relationships are very hard to maintain. Our method of communication is faulty at best. No spoken language can completely express our thoughts and feelings. It is like two ships sailing together in a storm, sometimes we bump up against each other. It is natural that we are going to get hurt along the way. When we refuse to forgive, the person that is hurt the worse is us. By forgiving those who have hurt us, we get rid of the spirit that can cripple us.

THE CARNAL SPIRIT

The most damaging spirit in this world is the one we are born with, the carnal spirit. It is described as the “Old Man”, “Enmity with God”, etc. This is the spirit that puts ourselves on the throne of our hearts. We are then in a constant struggle with God over the control of our lives. We understand what Paul meant in Romans 7:15-18 when he said, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And, if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”

What we do know is that we do not have to live in Romans chapter 7, we can go on to Romans chapter 8: And Paul says: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

 The spirits that cripple us are just like a disease, we need to be healed. Jesus called this woman forward and said, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

 When the church seeks God, asks for His presence and His Holy Spirit to invade our lives, cleanse us, and lift us up to a new plan of living, And, it is amazing how crippling spirits seem to disappear immediately.  Amen.